Bihar elections

development issues appeared to override the caste factor.

India to encourage afforestation

India will have 10 million more hectare of land under forest cover within 10 years, and half of it will
be developed as a dense forest

Indira Priyadarshini Vrikshamitra (IPVM)

IPVM awards are given in various categories in afforestation and wasteland development. India
now has 23 per cent of land under forest and is planning to expand it to 33 per cent by 2020.

world
NATO to exit Afghanistan by 2014
Some NATO officials also fear that increased violence could make it hard to meet the target date
set by Afghan President Hamid Karzai for the security handover, which would leave a vastly
reduced number of foreign troops in a training and support role.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.
handover must be shaped by the security situation and not by timetables.

burma
Suu Kyi talks about the election earlier this month. Her party refused to take part in the poll, the
first in Burma since the NLD won a landslide victory in a 1990 election, which the Generals
annulled. This time, the junta rigged the vote to ensure that its proxy, the Union Solidarity and
Development Party, was the overwhelming winner.

Finally, Nepal gets budget through ordinance

$4.5 billion annual budget through a presidential ordinance
The country has been in a political limbo since the June 30 resignation of Prime Minister Nepal. It
has stalled the country’s peace process and delayed the budget, bringing the nation on the brink
of financial crisis.

business
1,200 KV CVT unvieled
Crompton Greaves Ltd (CGL), become the world's first company to develop high-range power
product -1,200 KV capacitive voltage transformer (CVT).
The 1,200 KV capacitive voltage transformer (CVT) is an Indian product, conceived, designed
and successfully developed indigenously.

Onion major producers maharashtra,mp,rajasthan

editorials
Making ministers, officers accountable
The Results Framework Document is an effective device for measuring the quality of governance
and fixing accountability
Administrative Reforms Commission has expressed frustration with an administration that is
unable to reward or punish performance in a befitting manner. Central Pay Commissions review
the salary structure of all government employees every 10 years. They have proposed the
introduction of performance based incentives for officials. These excellent suggestions have
remained on paper. The reason: the government’s failure to establish scientific arrangements to
evaluate performance.
Government of India has introduced a mantra for adjudging performance, and for motivating
Minister and official alike. This is labelled the Results Framework Document (RFD), to be
rigorously implemented in all Ministries of the Government of India. Described as a Bill of Rights
for government servants, the novel system for monitoring and evaluation of performance was
announced in both Houses of Parliament by the President on June 4, 2009.
Every Ministry’s performance is measured twice a year by its ability to achieve specific
measurable targets.
It is a statement of intent and declaration of outcomes by the Minister and Secretary concerned.
Secondly, the targets themselves are not general, vague or nebulous. The document lists hard,
empirically definite items that effectively gauge the end result of the efforts of the concerned
officials.
e.g.completion of kilometers of fully functional road length by a specified date,,land brought under
acreage
RFD specifies the actions for achieving the objectives and assigns relative weight to various
indicators of success. Actual success can then be measured in empirical terms. The end
objective: improved governance.
An in-built system of grading assigns marks for every level of achievement.
Attaining less than 60 per cent of the designed target earns censure for the Minister and
Secretary concerned.
Thirdly, any possibility of collusion between Minister and Secretary in the shape of a “Yes,
Minister!” relationship is precluded. Each RFD is subject to continuing and regular scrutiny by a
group of external experts, called an Advisory Task Force. This standing group includes former
civil servants and also specialists of international eminence in various fields. The Cabinet
Secretariat reviews and monitors each RFD formulation as also its implementation. The Prime
Minister uses inputs from RFDs to evaluate the Ministries’ output.
By definition, the RFD is a record of intentions and outcomes
Every document has to be placed on the official website, and is thus in the public domain. This
openness provides an opportunity to the public to observe the government’s functioning.
Senior and middle level officials are constantly under pressure to learn in workshops and camps.
Ahmedabad’s Indian Institute of Management and several reputed international agencies
collaborate with the Cabinet Secretariat, providing valuable inputs about best practices from the
corporate sector, and also from experiments in governance abroad. At Mussorrie’s Lal Bahadur
Shastri National Academy of Administration, all fresh entrants into civil service imbibe the RFD as
a foundational credo for their career progression.
The governments of Punjab and Maharashtra have also taken the plunge and introduced RFD as
an instrument for administrative reform. Working closely with the Cabinet Secretariat, the Punjab
government has trained all senior officers in the preparation of their RFDs.
In Punjab, the Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration, Sector 26, Chandigarh,
has been assigned the task of performance monitoring and evaluation.
RFD, too, elicits doubts and misgivings.:---attempting to introduce a form of governance better
suited to the corporate sector.
doubters feel that the RFD ignores the realpolitik environment, dominated by non-measurable
imponderables. Many decisions in administration, it is argued, are not susceptible to cut and dried
mathematical formulation. It is feared that that key functionaries might be compelled to devote
excessive time and energy in paper work, neglecting core activities.
In the public interest, no stigma needs to be attached to applying management devices from the
corporate sector in government-led activities.
l The Results Framework Document (RFD), also described as a Bill of Rights, is a mantra
for adjudging performance and for motivating Ministers and officials.

l Its impact is not on the civil servants alone. It is a statement of intent and declaration of
outcomes by the Minister and the Secretary.

l It secures the commitment of the political boss even as it binds the bureaucrat to deliver.

l It helps actual success to be measured in empirical terms.

l It has to be placed on the official website and is thus in the public domain. This
openness, in turn, helps people to observe the government’s functioning.

l It will become the basis for recording the senior officers’ annual confidential reports. This
will ensure performance-based incentives for deserving public servants.
l It expects the red tape to be unraveled and converted into equipment to measure
governance.

Russia in NATO: Two giants under one umbrella

RUSSIA’S invitation to the Alliance Summit in Lisbon has rekindled debate over its likelihood of
joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). Its inclusion would expand NATO’s
collective security umbrella to the entire Europe. NATO with Russia will be the most powerful
security regime — the Euro-Atlantic security architecture — with three powerful players, the
United States, the European Union and Russia joining hands.
Russian membership of NATO is feasible due to several changes in the international scenario.
Russia-NATO relations have improved over the years because of improvement in the Russia-US
relations. This tilt in their bilateral ties is also visible in the US opting for Russian route for their
supplies in Afghanistan. Russia, too, had conceded the US request for the same.
The US needs Russian support in Afghanistan as well as Iran. Besides, NATO is no longer
perceived as an enemy by the Russian Federation.
New threats such as piracy, drug trafficking in Afghanistan, security in Europe and missile
defense call for new alliances.
In 2002, a “new era in NATO-Russia cooperation” was initiated by the signing of the Rome
Declaration, “NATO-Russia Relations: A New Quality”, that has formally established the NATO-
Russia Council. This new forum is meant to “serve as the principal structure and venue for
advancing the relationship between NATO and Russia”.
Russia fears that accession to NATO will negatively influence its foreign policy options and
choices and has been opposing NATO’s expansion in Post-Soviet space, particularly in
Caucasian countries which it considers to be its exclusive zone of influence.
Russia is not ready for joining the European security club. They are satisfied with the present
level of cooperation and deepening of cooperation without formally joining it. They stress that the
security concerns of Russia and alliance are not similar and cooperation is possible only on few
particular issues.
clear differences between the two over Georgia.
Russia’s accession to NATO will have far-reaching global implications.
With Russia as a member, NATO will be the most powerful and defining regional security
architecture. It will succeed in snatching away the sheen from the UN Security Council and would
act parallel to it.
Notwithstanding NATO’s unchallengeable status, Russia can balance and control NATO’s
reckless missions which are not in terms with the principles of the United Nations charter.
Russia’s membership of NATO will have serious repercussions on Asian security architecture.
Russia is very much part of Asia as it is of Europe. Its admission in NATO will bring NATO to
China’s border. It will seriously affect the stability of Asian continent as China, an emerging giant
and aspiring super power will view this as a threat to its own security.
whether inside or outside the European collective security framework, the Russian Federation is a
very essential part of European security architecture.

National Atlas and Thematic Mapping Organisation (NATMO), Kolkata.

Krupakar, Senani first Asians to win Green Oscar
prestigious wild screen film festival
Produced and directed by Krupakar and Senani, The Pack is the first film in Asia to be nominated
to the prestigious film festival and win the Green Oscar award. With this, the filmmakers from
Karnataka have become the first Asians to win the award.
The film is about a pack of the Indian wild dog known as dhole. It is an endangered species and
has been slaughtered till the end of the 20th century because it was considered a vermin.

No panacea for poverty

Suicides in AP demolish the myth of micro-credit
string of suicides in Andhra Pradesh in recent months has drawn attention to usurious interest
rates and strong-arm debt recovery tactics used by microfinance institutions (MFIs) especially in
rural India. It is alleged that companies like SKS Microfinance, Spandana Spoorty Financials and
dozens of other MFIs have been charging borrowers up to 36 per cent interest on loans, driving
around 60 of them in Andhra Pradesh to take their lives. A similar crisis in 2006 drove around 200
to commit suicide in the state.
In a country where over 60 per cent of the population are denied access to bank loans because
they lack collateral, MFIs were hailed for providing a lifeline to around 30 million households that
were outside the banking system. The loans were mainly extended to women and this strategy
was reported to contribute to their empowerment.
Smelling opportunity, private businesses, venture capitalists and the World Bank stepped in. The
new breed of MFIs extended micro-credit for profit even as they claimed to be filling a social
need.
The high cost of servicing tiny loans compelled them to charge interest, they said.
MFIs have functioned as loan sharks with legitimacy.
In most cases, the loans were not for income generating enterprises but for consumption. In the
circumstances, they sank into a debt trap, taking one loan to pay off merely the interest on
another. When they were unable to pay back loans, recovery agents abused and threatened
them, took away things from their home and even held their children hostage until they paid up.
Cases have been reported of agents encouraging borrowers to commit suicide as they hoped to
claim the sum from the insurance company. All loans are insured. Not surprisingly, victims’
families are accusing agents of abetting suicide.Cases have been reported of agents encouraging
borrowers to commit suicide as they hoped to claim the sum from the insurance company. All
loans are insured. Not surprisingly, victims’ families are accusing agents of abetting suicide.
Women were supposed to be the main beneficiaries of micro-credit. They have become its worst
victims. They are held responsible for defaulting on payment when it is the men who use it up for
consumption purposes.
Self-help groups (SHGs) through which the loans were channelled were supposed to improve
community cohesiveness. However, it has pitted one SHG member against another. When one
member defaults others must bear that burden. It has worked against women’s solidarity. It has
also deepened the dowry problem as men have increased their dowry demands knowing that
women can access MFIs for loans.
Andhra Pradesh government has finally promulgated an ordinance that makes it mandatory for
MFIs to register themselves with district agencies, besides providing details about the interest
rates they charge. The ordinance also restricts MFI agents from visiting borrowers’ homes to
recover loans or use strong-arm tactics to force repayment. Several social activists are pressing
for a cap on interest rates, which the Central Government seems reluctant to impose as it goes
against the interests of the MFI sector.
What is wrong is the aggressive pursuit of profit by MFIs, their obvious exploitation of the poor
and the usurious interest rates they charge.
However, increasingly experts are questioning the very concept of micro-credit, the way it
perceives poverty in extremely narrow terms as of cash income. It is based on an assumption that
poverty is caused by lack of money alone.
The micro-credit approach claims to be pro-poor. But it is based on the capitalist approach to
development.
The MFIs are not in the business to alleviate poverty. Rather their business thrives on keeping
people poor. After all, if borrowers had the capacity to repay promptly, the MFIs would lose out on
interest.
these are micro loans that leave a macro mess.